The Longest, Non-Permanent Relationship
by BurgundyHope
Summary: A series of 100 word drabbles based on aspects of Gunsmoke episodes that I wanted to explore more.
1. Seven Hours to Dawn - Guilty

"Wh-wh-why? Why'd you let me think he was dead?"

Doc shuffled away. A vice squeezed his heart as Kitty's voice echoed through his head.

He had done what was necessary. He'd done what he needed to give Matt his best chance at life against impossible odds, to keep Kitty safe.

Doc still felt like he'd failed Kitty.

Kitty's unbearable silence, her listlessness as he led her through town, the expression of complete innocence and confusion and, even still, love on her face, and that echo—

Doc knew he'd spend the rest of his life making it up to his girl.

* * *

A/N: Hey, all! I often get these tiny snippets of inspiration when watching episodes of Gunsmoke, and I can't always turn them into decent sized one-shots or multi-chapter stories. So, I've decided to just post them as a series of 100 word drabbles, challenging myself to keep each drabble at exactly 100 words!

I'm posting 4 drabbles right off the bat, and then I'll post more as they come to me. I hope you enjoy them!

The quoted dialogue in this drabble is taken from "Seven Hours to Dawn."


	2. Seven Hours to Dawn - Alone

It couldn't be real.

It wasn't real. She was dreaming. She was having a _nightmare_.

She'd wake up soon.

Doc led her upstairs, Festus followed. That man was there. Doc and Festus made him leave, but nightmares only get worse. He'd be back.

At least her friends were with her, alive and well. Her nightmares didn't usually afford her that mercy.

Festus knelt in front of her, and his tears, the tenderness and fierceness in his voice….

 _She wasn't going to wake up from this_.

And then—

She was in a nightmare, a waking nightmare, and they left her alone.


	3. Gold Train: The Bullet - Helpless

"I'm goin' along, Doc. And you're not gonna talk me out of it."

They had just loaded Matt onto the train.

Loaded. Like baggage.

Festus and Newly and the others had just carried Matt on board, Sam had brought Kitty's things – Doc was left studying Kitty's face as she stared him down, daring him to throw her off the train. Because they both knew that's what it would take.

Doc didn't want Kitty along because he didn't want her to watch Matt die.

He silently cursed her, choking down the fear.

"Well I'm gonna see what's holdin' up this train."

* * *

A/N: the quoted dialogue is taken from "Gold Train: The Bullet Part 1."


	4. Seven Hours to Dawn - If Only

Doc doesn't know how he's doing it, pouring Kitty a drink and telling her he'll give her something to help her sleep.

Kitty is sitting on the edge of an abyss, Matt is lying somewhere dying – every second Doc is away is another nail in Matt's coffin – and Doc is going through the motions with a professionalism that scares him.

And then that vulture—

"Someday, somewhere, the string's gonna run out for you, and you're…. Oh, how I wanna be there."

It's hardly a threat, but he can't help but think, _If that precious girl over there didn't need me…._

* * *

A/N: the quoted dialogue is taken from "Seven Hours to Dawn." _  
_

A/N 2: I'm an artist (as in, that's who I am and it's also my day job), and I'm currently working on a series of portraits of women in the arts who have impacted my life. One of the women I'm featuring is Amanda Blake! I'm using the portraits/the process to tell stories about my life AND stories from other people these women have impacted as well. SO, if you want more info on the project (I wrote a blog post explaining it in more detail) and/or you would like to share a story of how Amanda Blake (or any of the other women on the list) has impacted your life, just let me know! :)


	5. Hostage! - Clean

Ma waited until Doc finished with his examination and the surgery, until Marshal Dillon came back and had some time to be with Kitty. But she knew those men, those dear men, and she knew they needed her help.

The marshal didn't turn when she entered the office, but Doc greeted her silently, intuitively understood what she wanted to do.

Doc left the room when she started. Marshal Dillon, too.

Tears welled up in Ma's eyes as she paused a moment, heartbroken, then dipped a cloth into a bowl of warm water and whispered, "Let's get you cleaned up, dear."

* * *

A/N: In my headcanon, this is a missing moment in "Hostage!" I know it could just be a trick of the light, or continuity errors in makeup from scene to scene, but I've always thought that Kitty looked a lot cleaner, more put together, when she starts having what I'm assuming are nightmares than she did when Matt first sat down with her. I think I'm going to expand on this idea later on, but this is a start at least.


	6. The Noose - Leverage

The nameless coward leveled his gun at Kitty's chest, an old, tired game, and the energy in the jail shifted.

Kitty immediately threw up her walls as Doc fumbled with the lock on the cell door. Hysterics wouldn't help Doc. The son of a bitch was going to murder Doc, hang him right there in the street, and there was nothing she could do.

She _wanted_ to scream and fight and tear the place down, but instead she just watched, helpless.

Kitty was sick and tired – _heartsick_ – of being used by evil men as leverage against the men she loved.


	7. The Wreckers - Death Warrant

Doc loved Matt like he was his own son, and he knew Clete was probably right – Crocker wasn't going to let Matt _or_ Kitty live once he got Dodge's money. But he watched the old farmer destroy the last of Kitty's hope and had to do something.

 _In that moment,_ Kitty was his only concern.

She sank down on the staircase, but Doc took her place. It was an out of body experience as he listened to himself lecture the town, as he watched them respond. As he hated himself for sealing Kitty's fate.

He was signing Kitty's death warrant.

* * *

Doc was having an out of body experience as he lectured the town on the debt they all owed Matt.

"We know they'll kill him if they don't get the money. And we know they _might_ kill him even if they do." Him, him, him – as if Matt's life was the only one at stake.

But even as the crowd responded to his rallying cry, as he went on about Matt _for Kitty's sake_ – conscious that she sat barely holding herself together at his feet – his mind was quickly devising another plan.

Otherwise, Doc had just signed Kitty's death warrant.

* * *

A/N: The dialogue here is taken from "The Wreckers." And yes, there are two drabbles - I couldn't decide which version I liked better, I feel like something's off with them. At any rate, you can count on more drabbles from this episode in the future because I have a LOT of thoughts on it ;)

A/N 2: In case you missed the note a few chapters back, I'm an artist and I'm currently working on a series of portraits of women in the arts who have impacted my life. One of the women I'm featuring is Amanda Blake! I'm using the portraits/the process to tell stories about my life AND stories from other people these women have impacted as well. SO, if you want more info on the project and/or you would like to share a story of how Amanda Blake (or any of the other women on the list) has impacted your life, just let me know! :)


	8. The Wreckers - She Had To

Kitty took one final look at Matt, memorizing every last detail, desperate to sear him into her mind and heart. She knew what she was doing, she had known this might happen, but even so….

Kitty knew what Crocker would likely do to her, but she went with him without a struggle – that would come later.

She knew she was being selfish, but she'd _had_ to come back, had to at least try to save Matt.

Kitty knew it was killing Matt to watch her be taken from him, but he was _alive_.

And maybe, just maybe—

"Lou…. Burn it."

* * *

A/N: The dialogue is taken from "The Wreckers."

A/N 2: If you see this, Phoenix, since you were a guest reviewer on my last chapter I wasn't able to respond to you, but you can contact me by email at elizabeth byelizabethhope . com (without the spaces, of course - I put them in because sometimes fanfic is weird about that sort of thing). Thanks!


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